School Governors: How we support school governors in their role

Rounding off our ‘School Governors’ blog series, where we highlight all the things you need to know about becoming a school governor, we wanted to showcase the support we offer at Governors for Schools when in the role. Before we begin, if you’re thinking about volunteering and didn’t catch our last piece on the benefits of being a school governor, it’s a great read. In that article, we explored the many benefits of taking on the role from career advancement opportunities, to self fulfilment. 

What do we do at Governors for Schools? 

As a charity, Governors for Schools finds, matches and supports thousands of volunteers onto school boards every year across England and Wales. We’ve been operating for nearly 25 years and are well-known within the governance landscape. When you apply to become a school governor through our service, our team will search our current vacancies for any that match your preferences and will ensure you are supported in finding the right role for you. 

Our support, however, doesn’t just end once you’ve been placed. At a glance, the support we offer existing and prospective school governors includes: 

• A library of resources that we’ve curated and brought together. 
• Dedicated campaigns about important topics within the school governance landscape. 
• News articles detailing our work, and blogs around school governance topics. 
• Webinars discussing important topics in school governance. 
• eLearning designed to provide you with a rich understanding of topics affecting schools. 

Library of resources at your finger-tips 

Collating guides and governance materials together can sometimes be difficult, and time-consuming. That’s why we’ve created our resources for school governors page, designed to support school governors in their role. The resources that we’ve collated are not only must-reads, but are varied in content. From safeguarding, to DEI toolkits created by our friends at Diverse Educators, we’ve made sure you have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips to help you get started in the role for free. All newly appointed governors also receive 12 months’ access to GovernorHub Knowledge to support them in role. 

Campaigns around school governance 

We don’t just make it easier to find resources made by others within the governance landscape, we also run dedicated campaigns where we create resources based on our knowledge of school governance. We’re currently running a campaign dedicated to inclusion, known as our Inclusive Governance campaign. Here you can find our inclusive governance blog series, and resources page where you can get a better understanding of inclusion within schools. In the past, we’ve also run campaigns for school governors on the cost of living crisis, the big help out, anti-bully, giving every pupil the ambition to succeed, and wellbeing. 

Webinars for school governors 

We’re always hosting webinars on a number of governance topics. These include our monthly introduction to school governance webinars, designed to provide prospective and new school governors with a better understanding of the role. We also work closely with organisation Better Governor, to provide Better Governor Webinars on topics such as safeguarding, best practice, updates to legislation, and school performance data. You can view our full video archive of webinars on our webinars page, or YouTube channel. 

eLearning 

Our eLearning modules are designed to give you a better understanding of school governance on a richer scale than our other resources. You can find out about a range of topics, from driving school improvement to understanding performance data. Our eLearning is designed for both prospective and in-post school governors. 

As part of our support, we also have a CPD certified induction course. This is ideally suited to those new to education, with key language, regulations and acronyms explained. With this knowledge, you can fully engage with meetings and visits early in your school governance role. Each section contains real examples of actions and questions. This is to help you develop best practice. Additionally, it features videos of current school governors speaking about their roles. 

Regardless of the type of school you’re in, we have e-learning for you. You can view our eLearning page to find out more about our free and paid for eLearning. 

News and blogs 

If you’re interested in learning about what we’re up to at Governors for Schools, you can view our news page. Here you can find press releases, updates on our services, and information about campaign launches. Alternatively, our blog allows you to read about all things school governance. From remote volunteering, to supporting school governors to tackle bullying in their schools, our blog has something for everyone. It’s also updated regularly. 

Ready to find out more?  

Why not find out more about the role of a school governor? Additionally, you can also book on to one of our upcoming ‘Introduction to Governance’ webinars to learn more about this opportunity. Alternatively, if you’re ready to apply to become a school governor, you can visit our quick application form.